i didn’t catch all of Likhaan: the 59th UP National Writers Workshop but what i did catch (some 6 or 7 of 12 sessions) i thoroughly enjoyed. how great that it was open to the facebook public, requiring no registration or hassle of any kind i’ve never been part of a writers workshop kasi, i’m not sure why, haha, but i’ve heard stories, of course. and after the first sessions that i caught, i found myself remembering Sesame, a seven-month gig where i learned to face and deal with criticism without batting an eyelash, parang workshop na rin. the ability to face criticism is good, worth cultivating, if one is to grow as a writer in whatever genre. but wait, on second thought, there’s a huge difference between my gig-as-workshop and Likhaan. other than CTW producer tippy fortune who sat me down in several one-on-one sessions through the different stages of rewrite, my regular critics were mostly the production team — executive producer, director, head researcher, art director — who were just as nangangapa as i was. in contrast, Likhaan’s panelist critics are seasoned writers, most of whom i’ve read at one time or another but never really seen / heard perform other than on the printed page. and so it was a blast watching / hearing them strut their stuff, so to speak. jimmy abad, butch dalisay, neil garcia, charlson ong, bomen guillermo, cristina pantoja hidalgo, roland tolentino, and luna sicat cleto, in particular. comments were focused and forceful, drawn from personal and professional wisdom, affirming and encouraging, questioning and challenging, pointing out the “infinite possibilities of the imagination” from “marvelous realism” to “science vs, magic”, even of an “alternative value system”, why not indeed, along with questions like, to what end? saan papunta? sustainable ba? “sana matamis hanggang dulo, parang tubó” — ang ganda, ang dulas, ng tagalog ni luna sicat cleto, puwede talaga (i should stop with the taglish, LOL)! but the top take-away for this fag hag, i mean, LGBTQIA+ ally, was all that juicy stuff (from such credible sources!) about kabaklaan being bawal in the communist movement in the ’70s through the ’90s and yet someone very close to joma was gay?!? (da who!?!) i sure could have used some of that for the ishmael bernal anti-bio!